Six fold game board and method of folding game board

ABSTRACT

A six fold game board includes six generally rectangular flat panels of generally equal size serially arranged in pairs disposed adjacent to one another to define two outer pairs and one inner pair. The panels of the inner pair are joined by a fold line and the panels of the outer pair are each separated by a slit. Each panel of the outer pairs is connected to an adjacent panel of the inner pair by a fold line. As a result of this constructions, the outer panels can be folded over the adjacent inner panels and the inner panels can subsequently be folded over one another to define a folded game board having a width and length generally equal to the dimensions of one of the rectangular panels. A method of folding such a game board is also disclosed.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is being filed concurrently with U.S. Design patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled “SIX FOLD GAME BOARD”, filed on Jul. 10, 2008.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a game board. More particularly, it relates to a novel six fold game board.

2. State of the Art

Historically, the packaging of board games prior to the early 1980's was, in the main, based on the concept of a single fold game board packaged with the playing pieces, accessories and instructions in a large box (e.g., the Monopoly® game board). Mindful perhaps of costing and to be different, Trivial Pursuit® was one of the first, if not the first, to introduce a four fold game board. This change/saving of size was further developed in the later 1980's with the Pictionary® three fold board—presumably again to be both cost effective and to offer a new packaging design.

The last decade has also seen many changes in the games industry that adversely affect sales of traditional board games. Specifically, the emergence of challenges from electronic games and online gaming has had a significant impact in the games industry.

Today, as a result of the growing popularity of the CD disk and the introduction of the DVD, and their utilization in the games industry via, e.g., Play Stations® and Nintendo Wii's® game consoles, the market share of traditionally packaged board games has diminished. More worryingly in the past two years is the steady increase in the direct cost of raw materials, transport and wage costs—and the additional sales taxes these add to the final retail or shelf prices of board games.

Today, traditional board games are also considered too big and bulky to have in modern smaller apartments and starter homes where storage space is often limited. They look out of place on coffee tables, taking up too much room when not in use and appear bulky on shelves. Also it is difficult to transport board games to functions such as family gatherings, etc., because the game is too big and bulky and travel versions of the game are typically too small and don't employ a board. The opposite is true with electronic games provided with CD's and/or DVD's. These games are easy to store on the readily available CD/DVD racks and the like, which enables the games to be stored in full view and readily accessible for impromptu use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel, six fold game board which affords an innovative multi-fold game board design.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a multi-fold game board which reduces manufacturing and material costs, significantly reduces packaging volume and waste and is more eco-friendly.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a novel multi-fold game board which can be folded to a compact size, thereby reducing required storage space in both transport and at the point of sale, i.e., it significantly reduces the required product shelf space in retail stores.

It is of more particular object of the present invention to provide such a novel multi-fold game board which can be folded to allow it to be stored and made available in a manner comparable to CD's or DVD games and which would still allow the playing of a game in the traditional game board manner.

More particularly, it is the object of the present invention to provide such a novel six fold game board that folds flat to a size equivalent to the size of an industry standard DVD case.

Certain of the foregoing and related objects are readily attained according to the present invention by the provision of a six fold game board comprising six generally rectangular flat panels of generally equal size serially arranged in pairs disposed adjacent to one another to define two outer pairs and one inner pair, said panels of said inner pair being joined by a fold line and said panels of said outer pair each being separated by a slit and with each panel of said outer pairs each being connected to an adjacent panel of the inner pair by a fold line, whereby the outer panels can be folded over the adjacent inner panels and the inner panels can subsequently be folded over one another to define a folded game board having a width and length generally equal to the dimensions of one of said rectangular panels.

Preferably, the game board panels are generally square shaped. Most desirably, the panels have an approximate size of 6.69 in.×4.72 in.

Certain of the foregoing and related objects are also attained according to the present invention by the provision of a method for folding a six fold game board of the type described above, comprising the steps of folding one of the panels of each outer pair over the adjacent panel of the inner pair; folding the other of the panels of each outer pair over the previously folded one panel of the respective outer pair to produce a partially-folded game board composed of two three-ply panels connected to one another via the fold line joining said inner pair of panels; and folding one of said three-ply panels over said other of said three-ply panels to produce a folded game board having a width and length equal to the dimension of one of said rectangular panels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a novel six fold game board embodying the present invention, showing the game board in a fully open position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the game board after one fold;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the game board after two folds;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the game board after three folds;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the game board after four folds;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the game board after five folds, its fully closed position;

FIG. 7 is a further perspective view of the game board showing the game board showing the cut lines between the outer segments which permit folding;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the novel six fold game board of the present invention showing the game board in a fully open position;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the game board after one fold;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the game board after two folds;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the game board after three folds;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the game board after four folds;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the game board after five folds, its fully closed position; and

FIG. 14 is a further perspective view of the game board showing the cut lines between the outer segments which permit folding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning now in detail to the drawings, therein illustrated are two embodiments of a novel six fold game board embodying the present invention. FIGS. 1-7 illustrate a first embodiment of the six fold game board and, as seen in FIG. 1, it comprises a generally planar rectangular game board 20 (shown in its fully opened position). The game board 20 is composed of six equal sized rectangular panels 21-26 with panels 24, 25 and 26 disposed immediately below panels 21, 22 and 23, respectively. Panels 21 and 22 are connected by a fold line 27 and panels 22 and 23 are connected by a fold line 28. Panels 24 and 25 are also connected by a fold line 29, and panels 25 and 26 are connected by a fold line 30. Panels 22 and 25 are also connected by a fold line 31. As seen best in FIG. 7, panels 21 and 24 and panels 28 and 30 are each separated by a slit 32 and 33, respectively, to enable the game board to be folded as illustrated in FIGS. 2-6. In these figures, the dark shading represents the rear side of the respective panel.

More particularly, as seen in FIG. 2, slit 33 allows segment 23 to be folded via fold line 28 over segment 22. As seen in FIG. 3, slit 32 allows segment 21 to be folded via fold line 27 over previously folded panel 23 (i.e., it lays atop previously folded segment panel 23), thereby producing, in effect, a “three-ply” panel subassembly composed of stacked panels 21 (upper), 23 (middle), 22 (lower). As shown in FIG. 4, in a similar manner, panel 26 is folded via fold line 30 over panel 25 and, as shown in FIG. 5, panel 24 is folded via fold line 29 such that it lays atop previously folded panel 26 to form another “three-ply” panel subassembly composed of stacked panels 24 (upper), 26 (middle), and 25 (lower). Finally, as shown in FIG. 6, the three ply panel subassembly (defined by uppermost ply panel 21 is folded via fold line 31 behind the other three ply panel subassembly (defined by uppermost panel 24) which represents its fully folded state.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 8-14, with FIG. 8 showing the fully opened configuration of the game board 40, and FIG. 13 showing its fully folded state. As seen in FIG. 8, the generally planar rectangular game board 40 is also composed of six equal sized panels 41-46, but in this embodiment, the longer sides of the rectangular panels are offset 90 degrees relative to their position in FIGS. 1-7. In this embodiment, panels 41 and 42 are connected by a fold line 47, panels 44 and 43 are connected by a fold line 48, panels 44 and 45 are connected by a fold line 49, and panels 45 and 46 are connected by a fold line 50. The inner pair of panels 42 and 45 are connected by a fold line 51 and the outer pairs of panels 41 and 44 and 43 and 46 are each separated by a slit 52, 53, respectively.

As a result of the foregoing construction, the six fold game board of FIGS. 8-14 can be folded in a manner similar to that of the embodiment of FIGS. 1-7, as particularly represented in FIGS. 9-13. More particularly, as shown in FIG. 9, panel 43 is initially folded via fold line 48 over panel 42. In a similar fashion, panel 41 is folded via fold line 47 over previously folded panel 43 as shown in FIG. 10. Panel 46 is then folded via fold line 50 over panel 45 as shown in FIG. 11. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 12, panel 44 is folded via fold line 49 over previously folded panel 46 and, finally, the “three ply” stack composed of panels 41, 43 and 42 defined by uppermost panel 41 is folded via fold line 52 behind the other “three-ply” stack composed of panels 44, 46, and 45 defined by uppermost panel 44.

As noted above, the game board panels are generally rectangular in shape and are dimensioned so as be generally equivalent to an industry standard size of a DVD (6.69 in.×4.72 in.). When opened, this results in a fully opened game board, having dimensions of approximately 14.78 in.×14.88 in. In this DVD concept size, the cost savings factor is believed to achieve approximately a 35% reduction in manufacturing, transportation and material costs.

Various modifications can be made as will apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, although the panels are preferably rectangular, they could be square shaped. In addition, although the size of the panels are specifically geared to the industry standard size of a DVD box, other dimensions might be more suitable for a particular application. In addition, the order of folding of the panels to form the three-ply panel subassemblies can be changed and the panels can be possibly designed to be reversibly folded for some applications. Thus, while only several embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many changes and modification may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. A six fold game board comprising six generally rectangular flat panels of generally equal size serially arranged in pairs disposed adjacent to one another to define two outer pairs and one inner pair, said panels of said inner pair being joined by a fold line and said panels of said outer pair each being separated by a slit and with each panel of said outer pairs each being connected to an adjacent panel of the inner pair by a fold line, whereby the outer panels can be folded over the adjacent inner panels and the inner panels can subsequently be folded over one another to define a folded game board having a width and length generally equal to the dimensions of one of said rectangular panels.
 2. The game board according to claim 1, where in said panels are generally square shaped.
 3. The game board according to claim 1, where in said panels have an approximate size of 6.69 in.×4.72 in.
 4. A method for folding a six fold game board of the type comprising six generally rectangular flat panels of generally equal size serially arranged in pairs, adjacent to one another to define two outer pairs and one inner pair, said panels of said inner pair being joined by a fold line and said panels of said outer pair each being separated by a slit and with each panel of said outer pairs, each being connected to an adjacent panel of the inner pair by a fold line, whereby the outer panels can be folded over the adjacent inner panels and the inner panels can subsequently be folded over one another to define a folded game board having a width and length generally equal to the dimensions of one of said rectangular panels, comprising the steps of: folding one of the panels of each outer pair over the adjacent panel of the inner pair; folding the other of the panels of each outer pair over the previously folded one panel of the respective outer pair to produce a partially-folded game board composed of two three-ply panels connected to one another via the fold line joining said inner pair of panels; and folding one of said three-ply panels over said other of said three-ply panels to produce a folded game board having a width and length equal to the dimension of one of said rectangular panels. 